Immigrants from India flocking to the U.S.

They are getting more involved in their communities, observers say

Published 5:30 am, Monday, October 23, 2006

Aruna Rao, near left, shops at the Indian supermarket Apna Bazar Cash & Carry on Oct. 14 in Edison, N.J., in which roughly one-third of the population, like Rao, is of Asian Indian ancestry.

Aruna Rao, near left, shops at the Indian supermarket Apna Bazar Cash & Carry on Oct. 14 in Edison, N.J., in which roughly one-third of the population, like Rao, is of Asian Indian ancestry.

Photo: MEL EVANS, AP

Immigrants from India flocking to the U.S.

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EDISON, N.J. - The train station billboards tell it all.

Local travel agents promise the best airfares from New York to Mumbai. Shagun Fashions is selling dazzling Indian saris. And DirecTV offers "the six top Indian channels direct to you."

Roughly every third person who lives in Edison, a New York suburb, is of Asian Indian ancestry. Many are new immigrants who have come to work as physicians, engineers and high-tech experts and are drawn to "Little India" by convenience — it's near the commuter train — and familiarity.

Here, they can "get their groceries and goods from home," says Aruna Rao, a mental health counselor who lives in town.

Although a steady stream of Indians have settled in the U.S. since the 1960s, immigrants poured into the country between 2000 and 2005 — arriving at a higher rate than any other group.

Not only is the Indian community burgeoning, it's maturing. Increasingly, after decades of quietly establishing themselves, Indians are becoming more vocal in the American conversation — about politics, ethnicity and many other topics.

"I've been studying the community for 20 years, and in the last four or five years, something different has been happening," said Madhulika Khandelwal, president of the Asian/American Center at Queens College in New York. "Indian-Americans are finally out there speaking for themselves."

And so when Virginia Sen. George Allen was caught on video in August calling an Indian-American man "macaca" — a type of monkey and an offensive term — the community quickly responded.

Many Indian immigrants arrived in the U.S. focused almost entirely on individual success — getting a top-notch job, making good money and pushing their children to do the same.

But things are changing. After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, many Indian Sikhs, who wear turbans as part of their faith, were mistaken for Muslims — and terrorists. Hundreds were harassed or worse: In Mesa, Ariz., a Sikh gas station owner was shot and killed Sept. 15, 2001, by a man who told police "all Arabs had to be shot."

"Sept. 11 created a confrontation," Singh said. "We realized we now need to actively involve ourselves in the policy-making process. Otherwise policies will be made that exclude us."

The group now has two bills pending in the New York city council — one would allow city employees to wear turbans, and the other would make city officials craft plans to prevent hate crimes if another terrorist attack happened. The community recently saw three Sikhs elected to low-level offices around the city. "It's a good first step," Singh said.

There are novelists, including Pulitzer Prize winner Jhumpa Lahiri of Brooklyn; filmmakers like Mira Nair, whose The Namesake, based on Lahiri's novel and distributed by Fox Searchlight Pictures, is due in theaters next spring; and prime-time TV stars such as Parminder Nagra on E.R. and Naveen Andrews on Lost.

"Many of these things are converging around the same time, so it all adds up," Khandelwal said.